In what has been a major down year for sports, the NHL is thriving
The COVID-19 pandemic has produced some strange concessions and limits to sports so that they can continue safely and their business can keep turning profits. That said, many leagues have had to go through significant changes that are less than ideal for fans and players. Complicated schedules and having to adapt to COVID-19 protocols have made things challenging for athletes, but one organization stumbled upon what might be the change that saves their sport.
The NHL, due to COVID-19, was tasked with the difficult decision of whether or not to play hockey this year. Unlike the NBA, NFL, and MLB, which garner huge TV deals in the billions, professional hockey is still very much a sport driven by events and cash sales. Tickets, concessions, and merchandise make the sport succeed financially, and despite the massive Canadian audience that is loyal to hockey, it is still far away from earning broadcasting deals in the United States that are comparable to the previous leagues mentioned. Because of COVID-19, it was even said that the NHL could lose money by playing due to a lack of in-person sales.
The compromise by the NHL? A completely new division system that keeps Canadian teams in the same division and has three separate divisions in the U.S. that do not play outside of their divisions. The change was a Canadian hockey fan’s dream scenario, as you can now turn on your TV and watch all Canadian matchups almost daily.
As a result, the sport is seeing a massive turnaround and has garnered some celebrity attention, which is uncommon for professional hockey. Celebrities began tweeting about the rare but massively popular NHL custom of fighting between players during games, as hockey has been reaching new audiences. That alone stands out due to the history of hockey as a sport that lacked mainstream support from pop-culture figures. This is coupled with the fact that a groundbreaking startup has launched in the form of a Canadian professional women’s team from Toronto, so the general public may have more of an opportunity to check the sport out.
If not for the circumstances of COVID-19, fans would likely have never seen what a Canadian division would look like, despite that being a great idea. Now the question becomes, what does the NHL do moving forward? Have they stumbled upon a formula that would keep the game fun and move fans to get behind nationalized divisions? Is this a testament to the Canadian market and how it can rally around a division composed of northern franchises? So much is unknown, but we now know that somehow, someway, the NHL has begun a brief golden age for their fans, despite such a difficult time for so many.
